The Forum will focus on Pay to Stay and include updates on other efforts to expand tenant protections.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about many challenges to prevent people from contracting the virus, but it has also exposed other problems that can put people in harm’s way. Housing insecurity and the possibility of becoming homeless potentially exposes more people to the virus. The CDC Moratorium against eviction and funding of rental assistance have been important in the short-term to address this problem. However, it has also highlighted other problems that tenants face. In Ohio, if a tenant tenders their rent even a day after it is due, they can be evicted. Pay to Stay legislation would level the playing field for families by providing the right to redeem their tenancy if they can come up with the money by the time of the hearing. In addition, a landlord can decide not to rent to a tenant because of their source of income which is often used to deny housing to tenants of color with a housing voucher.

Housing advocates are now proposing solutions to these problems. The Forum will highlight the concept of Pay to Stay and the local efforts to get this reform enacted. Pay to Stay has been enacted in Yellow Springs and Toledo and representatives from Advocates for Basic Legal Equality (ABLE), will discuss the reform legislation enacted in those jurisdictions. In addition, there will be updates on legislation to bar discrimination based on source of income as well as the implementation of the next phase of rental assistance passed in December, which provides $36.3 million in direct assistance to Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. In addition, Representatives from Senator Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman’s office will provide updates on federal eviction protection legislation and other proposed housing reforms.